A Hot, Soggy Planet

Heavy rainfall during south asia's summer monsoons typically swamps large swaths of the subcontinent, but this season's storms have been unusually fierce. Four monsoon depressions, double the usual number, have caused the worst flooding in memory in parts of Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Nearly 800 have died and upwards of 20 million have been forced from their homes; aid agencies are warning that the death toll could rise because the scale of the disaster has overwhelmed efforts to reach stranded villagers with food, drinking water and medicine to combat outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever. Waters were receding...